The quickly expanding internet provides a variety of on-line commerce structures and processes, allowing online browsing and sales through a variety of dedicated retail web-sites, which typically offer one or more products. An inventory of products, which are typically stocked at one or more remote warehouse or related retail locations, are offered for sale through a web site. A purchaser, upon selecting a desired product, typically enters purchase information, such as credit card information and shipping information. Upon credit card authorization, typically when the items are shipped to the designated shipping address, the authorized card information is used to transfer monetary funds from the purchaser's credit account to the seller's bank account. While such on-line commerce systems provide adequate purchasing opportunities for buyers who have access to the Internet, typically for the purchase of smaller items which are readily sent (e.g. such as through postal services), such online commerce does not typically allow a buyer to conveniently pick up merchandise locally.
As well, there is an increasing development for systems which enhance the automation of on-line and off-line commerce, as evidenced by on-line payment systems, point of sale terminals, and debit cards. Related documents include Making the World Go Round (Online Payments), Internet Business, no. 24, p. 28–30 (January 1999); Wireless Point of Sale Terminal for Credit and Debit Payment Systems, Conference Proceedings, IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, (1998); Is Off-line Debit about to Derail?, ABA Banking Journal, vol. 89, no. 9, p. 66, 68, 70 (September 1997); 1998: Year of the Debit Card, Bank Systems & Equipment, vol. 24, no. 11, p. 16–18 (November 1987).
I. Krsul, J. Mudge, and A. Demers, Method Electronic Payments that Prevents Double-Spending, U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,119 (17 Nov. 1998) and corresponding European Patent Application No. 0833285, Method and Product for Generating Electronic Tokens, (filed 25 Sep. 1997) disclose a “method of generating electronic monetary tokens that supports off-line transactions while preventing double-spending. Generation of electronic token halves by a financial services provider begins in response to a request from a buyer to generate monetary tokens to be used with an identified seller. First, the financial services provider generates a plurality of electronic monetary tokens. Second, the provider splits each monetary token into two electronic token halves and associates with each the same serial number. These electronic token halves when combined recreate the electronic money token from which they were generated, but buy themselves neither electronic token half has any value. Nor can either electronic token half by itself be used to create the electronic monetary token without the token half's mate. After splitting all the monetary tokens, the services provider assigns a half of each electronic token to the seller and the other half of each electronic token to the buyer. The buyer and seller can now engage in multiple transactions off-line of the financial services provider”. While Krsul et al disclose a method of generating electronic monetary tokens, they fail to disclose a system for issuer-defined virtual certificates which are acquire on-line during a first transaction in which an acquirer establishes a secure private key that is associated with the acquired certificate, and are then selectively redeemed off-line, using the re-submitted private key to authorize the redemption transaction with the on-line system, and to revoke further use of the acquired certificate.
K. Ginter, V. Shear, F. Spahn and D. Van Wie, Systems and Methods for Secure Transaction Management and Electronic Rights Protection, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,019 (22 Jun. 1999) disclose systems and methods “for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers equipped in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Distributed and other operating systems, environments and architectures, such as, for example, those using tamper-resistant hardware-based processors, may establish security at each node. These techniques may be used to support an all-electronic information distribution, for example, utilizing the “electronic highway”.”
Gift Certificate Systems. Traditional gift certificates are typically offered by a small percentage of retail stores. There are often major costs associated in the creation and distribution of paper-based certificates, as well as in the management of in-store redemption. Consumers are thus presented with a narrow range of merchant outlets where certificates can be redeemed. The buyer often has to travel to the store to buy the certificate, and then the recipient has to wait until the buyer sends the paper-based certificate to the recipient. As well, there is often no authorization control on the redemption of the paper-based certificate. Paper-based certificates are often treated as cash, and a lost or stolen certificate usually will not be refunded to the buyer or recipient.
Some dedicated network locations, such as web sites which offer goods and services for a single entity, typically offer the purchase of pre-printed and inventoried paper-based gift certificates, which are typically purchased on-line by a buyer, and then are typically sent to a desired recipient.
As well, aggregated web sites which offer multiple goods and services from multiple sources often offer the similar online purchase of generic certificates, which may then be redeemed on-line by a recipient, such as towards the purchase of inventoried goods, which are subsequently sent to the recipient redeemer.
As well, some web-based companies, such as located at “www.giftpoint.com” and “www.giftcertificates.com”, have recently been established to sell a variety of gift certificates, which inventory and offer for sale a large number of pre-printed gift certificates, typically related to nationally traded products and services (e.g. such as redeemable certificates from Gap Stores, Inc. or Wal Mart, Inc.). While such sites allow a buyer to purchase a certificate online, the range of merchants they support is only a small subset of the already small number of merchants who offer traditional paper-based certificates. Such sites inventory the paper-based gift certificates, and offer the certificates to buyers through the web site. When a paper-based certificate is purchased through the site, funds are typically transferred from the buyer at the time of the transaction, and the stocked paper-based certificate is then sent to the designated recipient. While such sites offer a variety of gift certificates for purchase, the certificates are required to initially be established (i.e. printed and recorded) by each of the businesses, and are then transferred to the site (such as by a purchase transaction), where they are inventoried. While large business entities may have already established paper-based certificates, small issuers (e.g. such as small or localized businesses) often do not have certificate systems of their own.
A similar on-line business, located at “www.gifttracker.com”, provides gift certificates which may be purchased online and redeemed locally. The site provides a redemption and retail location search engine, by which an online shopper may search for certificates, based upon redemption type (e.g. such as by toys, books, sports equipment, or women's apparel), as well as by location (e.g. such as by entering by zip code). For a given product type, an online shopper typically enters a zip code (such as the zip code of the shopper, or the postal zip code of a potential recipient of a gift certificate). Based upon the entered postal code, the search engine determines gift certificates which may be redeemed locally within the submitted postal area. While the certificate system implemented by gifttracker.com provides the online purchase of certificates which may be redeemed locally, the system requires an inventory of printed certificates which are supplied by the issuers (e.g. such as conventional printed certificates available from large chain stores). After an on-line purchase transaction, the pre-printed certificates are then packaged and sent to a designated address (e.g. such as the acquirer's address, or an alternate recipient address). Once a pre-printed certificate arrives, such as by a conventional mail service, the pre-printed certificate is then taken by the recipient to a corresponding store. The site does not allow the on-line creation of a remote, electronic gift certificates, such as for issuers that do not have pre-printed certificates. As well, the system inherently requires an associated inventory and distribution system for the pre-printed gift certificates.
Another web-based company which sells certificates is located at “www.webcertificates.com”, which enables recipients of a certificate to redeem the certificate from a wide variety of on-line merchants. The site creates a certificate which is similar to a virtual credit card, which is then readily accepted by a wide variety of on-line merchants who accept credit cards as payment for their products and services. However, recipients are required to access the Internet, follow detailed instruction to retrieve their online certificate, and then are required to redeem the certificate at an online location, wherein a product is then shipped.
In an alternate embodiment of a conventional online gift certificate site, a buyer may purchase a “generic” gift certificate, which is then typically given as a gift to a recipient, whereby the generic gift certificate is supplied with a tracking number (which may be sent to a recipient, or may be e-mailed to the recipient). The recipient may then log on to the gift certificate site, and “redeem” the generic gift certificate by selecting one or more specific gift certificates, which in sum are equal to the designated value of the original generic certificate. However, as with other online business which offer paper based certificates for sale, the specific certificates are limited to an actual inventory of paper-based gift certificates which are available at that site. Upon redemption of the generic certificate, the specific certificate or certificates are then physically sent to the redeemer.
Another web-based company which sells gift certificates is located at “www.flooz.com”, which enables an on-line buyer to purchase and send “on-line” currency, which is only available and usable on the Internet. When a buyer sends a recipient the “on-line” currency, such as by electronic mail, the recipient can then spend the “on-line” currency at one or more online sites which are registered to accept the “on-line” currency for online commerce.
In present embodiments of online commerce, buyers and sellers are linked electronically, at some point in the process, and merchandise (or redeemable paper-based certificates) are shipped to the buyer or alternate recipient, such as from a central warehouse linked to the seller. In such embodiments, there are inherent shipment costs, and there is often shipment delays.
On-line Ticketing Systems. In conventional networked commerce sites which offer tickets (e.g. such as for travel, sports, or entertainment), when a computer user purchases tickets online, a selling sites typically provides the buyer with a serial number (i.e. such as a confirmation or tracking number, or even a general ticket number), such as through an e-mail notification. To receive the tickets, the buyer is then typically required to submit the confirmation or number at a will-call booth, whereby the submitted confirmation number is matched to the tickets (which may be previously printed, or may be printed upon redemption). If the submitted number is correctly matched to the tickets, the tickets are then given to the redeeming person. While such conventional online systems allow the online purchase of tickets, as well as the local pick-up of the purchased tickets, money is typically transferred upon the initial on-line acquisition of the tickets, and whereby anyone submitting the correct tracking number may be given the tickets. The single tracking number is confirmed off-line at the will-call booth and, is not authenticated with the on-line site.
The disclosed prior art systems and methodologies thus provide basic certificate systems, but fail to provide a secure certificate system in which allows issuers to create an virtual inventory of certificates, which may then be acquired online, and then redeemed locally. It would also be advantageous to provide a certificate system which allows customers to establish a private key that is unique to the transaction, which is subsequently used in a redemption transaction to authorize the local redemption with the online system. The development of such a certificate system would constitute a major technological advance.